Roger Delgado makes his final appearance as The Master...

Frontier In Space is commonly classed as a “Space Opera”. The term’s been used for that other popular BBC export Blake’s 7. The only problem is, I never really understood why. Neither of these feature a group of shrieking men or women with big mouths. Neither of these feature domestic shenanigans of the type that only Peggy “Geeeeeaaaahhhhmaaahhhpaaahhb” Mitchell could provide. In the end, both Frontier and Blake’s feature lots of space backgrounds and spaceships. But what opera has to do with both I don’t know.

Both also feature lots of hostile characters. And that’s just the regulars in Blake’s 7. In Frontier In Space, The Doctor and Jo come up against a great big wall of hostility. All The Doctor did was to overshoot the mark, and all of a sudden, he’s being used as a Gallifreyan football between two factions - the Earthlings and the Draconians, who are both in conflict with each other.

The novel adaptation of this states this more explicitly - Doctor Who And The Space War. Earth and Draconia are in conflict, the two sides rivalling each other for control of the galaxy. Sure enough though, The Doctor’s landed at the worst possible time. Someone is provoking the conflict even further, to the point where full-blown war could erupt, and The Doctor, getting caught in the crossfire, realises that he’s up against a series of deadly enemies.

It’s almost like an interplanetary game of Guess Who? As the episodes progress, we find that there’s a new twist. Initially, the Ogrons blunder their way onto the spaceship, although as Jo points out, they’re mercenaries, working for someone else. And since the Ogrons have brains the size of chick peas, someone else has paid them to do the heavy work. In a neat bit of blind-siding, The Doctor and Jo discuss the possibility of the Daleks being behind the whole thing. All that’s quickly forgotten about when The Master makes his appearance. But sure enough, we find that The Master’s just as much a stooge as the Ogrons.

"Frontier In Space is another great showcase for Hulke’s knack of writing believable, three-dimensional characters"

Especially since The Master reveals his paymasters in one of the best scenes of the story. Yes - it was the Daleks all along. Malcolm Hulke very cleverly structures the story so as to mis-direct the viewer as to who’s provoking war between Draconia and Earth. The Daleks barely figure in the story, but it’s a hell of a shock moment when they trundle into view on the Ogron planet.

Frontier In Space is another great showcase for Hulke’s knack of writing believable, three-dimensional characters. The Draconians could have been your average Green Beastie Of The Week, and yet they’re so much more effective than that. Each Draconian has his own personality. The young hothead Prince is very much the mouthpiece for the Draconian hostility, spouting last warnings at the Earth President and dismissing The Doctor’s credentials as pure fantasy. Despite this, like the rest of his race, there’s something noble about the Draconians. The Draconian Emperor is another good example of this. He’s barely on the screen, but we get to learn about the Draconians’ past and their link with The Doctor. The Emperor is also far wiser than the angry Prince, giving Jo the chance to speak, despite it going against tradition.

Another reason for the Draconians’ effectiveness is their appearance. John Friedlander’s masks are truly memorable, allowing the eyes and mouths of the actors to show through. Jon Pertwee cited the Draconians as his favourite monsters for that very reason, and coupled with some good performances from Peter Birrel as the Prince and John Woodnutt as the Emperor, you can understand why they were such a hit.

The Earthlings also get a bit more depth than is usually the case. One thing that Hulke does well is to give minor characters a personality. The opening scenes show two everyday Joe pilots. Any other TV programme would have them spouting inconsequential gibberish, but interestingly we get a glimpse into the minds of Hardy and Stewart. Stewart is very much enticed by the glamour of swanky space cruisers, his mind filled with stewardesses and glitz. Hardy, on the other hand, is a simple man, unfazed by such trivialities. Even the abrupt Gardiner is seen to have something of a conscience after taking the piss out of The Doctor’s clothes and being about as much help as an umbrella in a sandstorm. He asks Jo and The Doctor if they would like to eat anything, before quietly hinting that they should tell the powers that be everything before the dreaded Mind Probe. And yet Hardy, Stewart and Gardiner don’t get that much screen time.

"Williams is a great example of Hulke’s penchant for adding shades of grey to his characters instead of painting them in black and white."

As with other Hulke classics, Frontier In Space is very much rooted in the political affairs at the top. In a bold move for the time, a woman president is shown to be at the top of the pile, with her angry second in command General Williams hovering at her side like an angry bulldog at a 1970s Crufts show. It’s not as simple as that though, since Williams arguably rules from the sidelines. Every decision that the President makes is questioned and then torn apart line by line by Williams. He uses his military clout to get what he wants, butting in and making demands when he has no real reason to. To muddy the water further, at one point Williams says that he and the President used to be friends, implying that the two were in some sort of relationship. Maybe it’s for that reason that the President does tend to let herself get over-ruled by Williams from time to time.

In another great twist though, we learn that Williams was the original cause of the conflict. In typical Shoot First Ask Questions Later style, Williams shot at a Draconian ship without even considering the full facts - the ship was unarmed and its communications system broken. From that moment on, Williams - rather than go on the defensive - shows great humility and chooses to help The Doctor and the Draconian Prince to find Jo and The Master. Williams is a great example of Hulke’s penchant for adding shades of grey to his characters instead of painting them in black and white. And at least Williams stops strutting around the place with the expression of a man trying to rid himself of a 50-ton stool.

And again, this is another brilliant story for The Doctor and Jo. Thinking about it, this is probably their last gasp of glory, since they’re apart for most of Planet Of The Daleks and even further apart in The Green Death. Frontier In Space shows the viewer how far The Doctor and Jo have progressed in the last few seasons. The Doctor may still be prone to the occasional angry outburst, but this is a far more measured, considered Doctor. He doesn’t fly off the handle at Jo’s non-stop babbling - indeed he gently laughs along with Jo, and in a rather charming scene, he senses her worry over the Mind Probe and recounts a story in which he attended a peace convention with a giant rabbit, a pink elephant and a purple horse with yellow spots - only to be hijacked by Medusoids and their dreaded Mind Probe. Of course, he managed to defuse all of their Mind Probes. You can tell that The Doctor has become very fond of Jo, always protecting her and joking too (“Who are you fighting tonight?” he quips when he sees Jo’s karate uniform). He even explicitly states this when he rambles on about his exile to Earth in his plan to trick The Master (“That alone made the exile all the more worthwhile Miss Grant”).

"Both Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning are again at the height of their powers, displaying that genuine affection between them that very very few Doctor-Companion teams had"

Jo too has also come a long way from the naïve teenybopper of Terror Of The Autons. She still has her scatty side, but she also stands up to the Draconian Prince, letting rip about Women’s Lib at one point, and in a nice reversal of her original confrontation with The Master, she now has the ability to block his hypnotic powers by reciting nursery rhymes at very fast speed. In some ways, this is all a set-up for Jo’s forthcoming departure - she is now equipped to enter the big wide world without tripping over or acting gormless. Both Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning are again at the height of their powers, displaying that genuine affection between them that very very few Doctor-Companion teams had.

"Masters may have come and gone and shrunk people and eaten burger-serving grannies on the way - but no one had as much impact as the one and only Roger Delgado"

They also technically get their own episode. Episode Four, give or take the first five minutes, is essentially a three-hander between The Doctor, Jo and The Master. Having been kidnapped by The Master, The Doctor and Jo devise a somewhat ludicrous plan of escape with the aid of spacewalking and overlong monologues. The plan doesn’t work of course, but it does showcase the talents of Pertwee, Manning and Delgado, all working in perfect unison. The only problem with it is that you could argue that it’s just blatant padding.

Which applies to the story as a whole. Frontier In Space, for all its political intrigue and finely-drawn characters is basically six episodes of The Doctor and Jo trying to convince everyone that they’re not spies. Not one person is willing to listen to them, until The Doctor meets bumbling old fossil Professor Dale (a man who keeps butting in into everyone’s conversations) - and that’s in episode three. Admittedly, the grand scope of the story allows for greater credibility and variety at the same time (we get the space scenes, Earth, The Moon and The Ogron planet) - but to be honest, there’s way too much padding here - even if it is enjoyable padding. Think of it as sinking into a swanky sofa that cost more than it should have done.

"Masters may have come and gone and shrunk people and eaten burger-serving grannies on the way - but no one had as much impact as the one and only Roger Delgado"

The only other big problem with Frontier In Space is the ending. Up until now, Paul Bernard has done some sterling work with his direction. The production values are excellent with some notable costumes and sets; the spaceship scenes are very good for their time and actually stand up well today (just ignore the strings holding up The Doctor); and there’s also some clever camera angles (for example, the slow, dizzying cross fade into The Doctor’s unconscious face). Unfortunately, the ending just makes no sense. There’s a rather hasty ambush scene in which The Doctor confuses the Ogrons and The Master with his box of tricks, but we get a sudden jump cut to The Doctor getting shot and lying dazed and confused on the floor. By which time, everyone else has vanished from sight. The commentary suggests that behind-the-scenes problems were the cause, and in hindsight it’s a great shame for two reasons. One is the fact that Frontier In Space doesn’t really function as a story in its own right. The ending is just a dovetail into Planet Of The Daleks and so Frontier In Space just stands as a classy lead-in to the apparently dreaded showdown with the pepperpots of doom.

The other reason is that Roger Delgado doesn’t get a particularly dignified last scene. No one could have known at the time, since his sudden sad death a few months later denied the viewers a last showdown between The Doctor and The Master. The last we see of Delgado’s Master is him firing off a shot in surprise.

That said, Delgado’s last performance as The Master is fittingly brilliant. He perfectly plays off The Master’s evil streak against a rather wry, sardonic sense of humour. I love his impatience with the blundering Ogrons and also his impersonation of the Daleks at the end. It takes a lot to portray a villain that’s both the personification of evil and also a comedic genius that’s hugely likeable. But that was Roger Delgado to a tee. Masters may have come and gone and shrunk people and eaten burger-serving grannies on the way - but no one had as much impact as the one and only Roger Delgado.

John Bensalhia limbered up for this mammoth task with a full four-series review of Blake's 7, and writes professionally and recreationally all over the web. Check out his portfolio of work at Wordprofectors.

Check out John's previous Doctor Who review, Carnival Of Monsters